‘All gifting is sacred’

This article examines the Sanatana Dharma Sabha movement’s engagement with socio-religious charitable gifting practices, or dana, between 1915 and 1940. In late colonial India, elite donors used the language and forms of dana to rework relationships of patronage, reinforce power hierarchies and transform the moral fibre of different ‘publics’. Reformist orthodox Hindu socio-religious organisations affiliated to the Sanatana Dharma Sabha movement fostered and shaped sanatana dharma norms, precepts and ritual practices through charitable gifting. Reforming dana was also a significant part of their project of revitalising sanatana dharma to craft citizenship, nationalism and a modern civil society. Sanatani organisations led public initiatives to prevent the misuse of monies by the managers of wealthy religious and charitable institutions and use this wealth to reinvigorate the Hindu samaj and religion. They also utilised the Religious and Charitable Endowments Acts as legal tools of reform to nurture a ‘Hindu public’ bound by caste, sampradayik and gender norms.